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High up in the Alps, world leaders will later this week make their annual pilgrimage to the Swiss resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

The threat posed by growing inequality – one acknowledged by a diversity of attendees – will again be one of the main talking points at the invite-only event where politicians rub shoulders with business leaders, social entrepreneurs, technology innovator, philanthropists, media and NGOs.

The summit last year identified economic inequality as a major risk to human progress, while Oxfam reported that just 85 people owned as much wealth as the poorest 50 per cent – or 3.5 billion people.

Other key findings from the report – entitled Wealth: Having it all and wanting more – include:

The richest 1 per cent have seen their share of global wealth increase from 44 per cent in 2009 to 48 per cent in 2014

At this rate the richest 1% will own more than 50 per cent of global wealth in 2016.

Almost all of the remaining 52% of global wealth is owned by the richest 20%.

This leaves just 5.5% of the global wealth for the remaining 80% of people in the world

The wealth of the richest 80 people doubled in cash terms between 2009-14.

More than a third of the 1,645 billionaires listed by Forbes inherited some or all of their riches.

This explosion in inequality is holding back the fight against global poverty at a time when 1 in 9 people do not have enough to eat and more than a billion people still live on less than $1.25 (€1.07/82p)-a-day.

Inequality is not inevitable – it is the result of policy choices. There are solutions, ones we will be highlighting at the Davos meeting, which Oxfam International Executive Director Winnie Byanyima will co-chair.

Above: A twice-weekly vegetable market in the town of Bara Gaon, India. Inequality is rising at a time when 1 in 9 people do not have enough to eat and more than a billion people still live on less than $1.25 (€1.07/82p)-a-day. Photo: Tom Pietrasik / Oxfam

We propose a seven-point plan to tackle inequality:

Clamp down on tax dodging by corporations and rich individuals

Invest in universal, free public services such as health and education

Above: Zambia is one of the world’s fastest-growing economies yet Barbara Chinyeu is living in poverty, like three-quarters of the population. While Barbara struggles to grow vegetables to support her family and walks four hours every day just to collect water, multinational mining companies make huge amounts of money in her country. These giant corporations use international tax rules to avoid paying their fair share, meaning that families like Barbara’s lose out. "We are better off if we are all at the same level... If we were all equal, we could all have control of our own affairs." Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith / Oxfam

Imagine the impact this could have. Cleaning up the toxic global tax system, to take one example, would give governments all over the world the vital revenues they have been deprived to invest in public services like health and education that can both help to fight poverty and reduce inequality.

For example, the EU could receive an annual boost of €120/£100 billion in public money if Europe clamped down on tax dodging. €120/£100 billion is almost twice the annual global aid budget and this much cash could save the lives of 350,000 children under the age of five every year.

2015 presents a historic opportunity for world leaders to set a roadmap to eradicate extreme poverty and improve prospects for all citizens with the clock ticking for major decisions on the new UN development goals later this year.

If we get it right, this generation can solve one of the major global challenges of our time and help people escape the stranglehold which keeps them in poverty.

Tuesday evening, the paper dosa arrived – a large sheet of crisp and thin folded pastry about 30cms high and longer – filling the large metal plate. In small containers on the plate were spicy dips and coconut to go with the dosa.

My partner, Teresa, and 12-year-old daughter, Zora, were having dinner with two friends who are from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.

Swaad restaurant has good and reasonably priced food; it is three floors up on the roof of a building belonging to the Badminton Club and, yes, they do play badminton there.

From our table we could look down on the end of Kisutu Street where most of the Hindu Temples in Dar es Salaam can be found. The food we were eating is another result of the community of Indian descent who have long been part of the society along the East African coast.

They have come as traders and later as labourers and administrators, especially when the British colonies in East Africa were administered from India. The lamb kadai and palak paneer were excellent, the Tanzanian rice typically tasty and we had to compete with Zora to get a piece of the garlic naan.

Our friends told us about the research they were doing on the sugar industry in Tanzania. It is an industry the Tanzanian government wants to expand and one involving a number of large companies like Illovo (one of the world’s biggest sugar producers) and numerous small farmers as well.

Probably the biggest challenge this year has been the issuing of licences to import sugar into Tanzania. Now one finds sugar from India all over Dar es Salaam and local farmers who have increased their sugar production have not been able to sell their produce.

The government of course wants to ensure that consumers can get sugar and at affordable prices, not least in the fast growing city of Dar es Salaam with its population of over 4 million people. On the other hand farmers, small and big, say that now they cannot sell their harvest, at least not at a price that covers their costs of production.

Without strong political and economic influence, it is the smaller farmers who are losing out more in access to limited processing capacity and markets.

Photos: Top - A schoolgirl addresses the crowd during the climate change march in Dar es Salaam. Bottom left: Eluka Kibona, Oxfam Economic Justice Campaign Manager in Tanzania, speaks to people at the climate change march. Bottom right: A woman joins the discussion at a tribunal-style event to hear community experiences of large land deals and the impact of climate change on their lives.

This was part of our Food and Climate Justice Campaign. A week earlier, while tens of thousands marched in New York and other parts of the world including Belfast and Dublin, young people also marched in Dar es Salaam to raise awareness of climate change in Tanzania and to add their voices to the global call for action on climate change.

The ‘tribunal’ was held in the historic Karimjee Hall in the centre of Dar es Salaam. This had been the seat of the first Parliament of Tanzania, back in the days of former leader Julius Nyerere when the tide of liberation from colonialism was sweeping across much of Africa. The hall with its parliamentary-style benches down each side and large seats for the presiding officers at the front created a fitting atmosphere to hear the serious stories that were shared. Judge Mizray of the land court led the panel hearing the cases.

While the people’s tribunal was not a formal court and had no formal decision-making power, it was a rare opportunity for people from remote and impoverished communities to be heard and taken seriously. They reached not only the audience present in the hall, but also the public through the media – television, radio and newspapers – that covered the event.

Volunteers form ForumCC tweeted information (using #MahakamaYaWazi) from the tribunal and posted on Facebook. While they could not make binding orders, the judges were able to give advice to the communities on what they could do about their cases.

We heard about local farmers who lost land they used to produce food on as a private school was built and expanded in their village. The school now controls over 500 acres of land. It was agreed that education is important, but if a school was needed people should be consulted and anyone who gives up land for the school should be compensated and receive alternative land.

None of this happened in this case and to make matters worse most of the land people have been removed from for the school is not currently being used.

In another case a Dutch company acquired over 34,000 hectares with promises of community development and jobs. But the little support they started to provide, like school lunches in the local primary school, soon stopped and then the company ended all its operations, with the people who had gotten jobs losing them.

Despite the operations having been stopped, the company still holds onto the land and the community want it back. They have taken their case with the Ministry of Land and the Tanzania Investment Centre for some years, but with no success so far.

These were just a few of the cases heard on day one of the tribunal and many involved land rights violations and land conflicts. Land conflicts will become more common and harder to resolve as climate change affects rainfall, water availability and people’s ability to produce on the land, as evidenced by a video compiled for previous hearings.

In my input to the tribunal I shared information on some of the international laws and conventions that our governments have all agreed to. The right to food is recognised as a fundamental human right. The right to land is also confirmed in international conventions and the violation of land rights is known to lead to other human rights violations, like violating the right to food for people who depend on the land to feed themselves.

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa has committed states to ensure they “provide women with access to clean drinking water, sources of domestic fuel, land, and the means of producing nutritious food” and “promote women’s access to and control over productive resources such as land”.

Yet many of the cases presented at the tribunal highlighted the way women suffer more from the impacts of land grabs and climate changes.

Sadly we heard how, far from protecting people’s rights, the Tanzanian government has too often collaborated with companies that for their part have not respected people’s rights. And for those who shared their stories at the tribunal, there has been no remedy.

Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, has argued that climate change is a human rights issue as it is violating people’s right to food.

The challenge is making these rights real in people’s lives, as Judge Mziray says: “The decisions of the courts need to be respected, the courts hear cases and make orders to defend people’s rights, but too often they are not implemented.”

Back to the restaurant, my daughter Zora was getting tired and bored with talk of agriculture, land rights and food security. It was time to go home. My family, friends and I were lucky enough to be able to enjoy the good food we did that evening, not something any of us should take for granted.

Marc Wegerif is a South African, currently based in Tanzania, who has worked on development and human rights issues in a range of organisations for over 25 years and has a Masters in Land and Agrarian Studies from the University of the Western Cape. Marc has focused on land rights issues for much of his professional life and is currently Food and Land Rights Advisor with Oxfam Ireland. In this role Marc is involved with international advocacy and running several multi-country projects. He is married with two daughters. This blog is a personal reflection and the views expressed are not necessarily those of Oxfam.

There are those who argue that inequality is a good thing – it motivates people to work hard and those who are wealthy are simply enjoying the fruits of their labour.

The problem is the rules are rigged against the poorest and in fact against everyone except the wealthy, making equality of opportunity a myth. As writer and activist George Monbiot put it: “If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire.”

Inequality is not inevitable – it’s the result of years of deliberate policies and rules that have been rigged in favour of the few. But strategies to bring about economic recovery after the financial crisis have been skewed in favour of the wealthiest. In poor countries, rising inequality means the difference between children getting the chance to go to school and sick people getting life-saving medicines.

For prosperity to be sustained it must be shared more equally. To do that we need make the rules fair, rules like taxation, so that everyone pays a fair share and loopholes are closed. We campaign for basic healthcare and education to be provided for all – it’s a basic right and also means that everyone has a fighting chance in life. We need transparent and accountable government so that wealthy special interests can’t use their power to rig the rules. We know that these rules can be changed to benefit everyone, and that together, we can tackle inequality.

More and more people are joining Oxfam in talking about inequality and how we can tackle it for everyone’s benefit. Today is Global Blog Action Day when thousands of bloggers are joining the conversation on inequality to share ideas. Get involved here.

Kellogg announced it is stepping up to address climate change in a very big way. It has committed to reduce harmful emissions across both its supply chain and operations, help smallholder farmers adapt and push for real advocacy across the private sector and government. Thanks to your voice, and those of 238,000 other consumers, Kellogg is doing the right thing.

This is a swift response and it is due to the supporters who stepped up to take action.

Kellogg did the right thing for millions of farmers worldwide who are coping with the effects of erratic weather caused by climate change. Now we can all feel better about sitting down to a bowl of Cornflakes knowing that Kellogg is helping to stop climate change from making people hungry.

In addition to the speed of these back to back campaign wins on climate change, we’re also making progress protecting farmers worldwide from land grabs. Nestlé recently announced a zero tolerance for land grabs policy.

And we aren’t done yet: we’ll continue to push the Big 10 to make sure that the way they do business is good for people and the planet. But for now, we say thank you and onward!

After 2 months of campaigning we are thrilled to announce that General Mills — once ranked last on climate change policies on our Behind the Brands scorecard— has committed to setting targets to reduce emissions, participate in real climate advocacy, and become a true climate leader. And we have you to thank!

There is no way General Mills - the maker of brands like Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs and Green Giant - would have made these commitments without your support: The new policy comes after more than 230,000 people like you signed petitions and took action as part of Oxfam’s campaign to urge food and beverage companies to help stop climate change from making people hungry.

The fact that so many of us came together makes this victory that much sweeter!

As one of the 10 largest food and beverage companies in the world, General Mills took a bold step forward today as the first among the Big 10 to agree to cut emissions from both its operations and its agricultural supply chains. That’s huge!

And as a global player, General Mills’ action will be felt across the food and beverage sector—serving as a model for what others can do. In fact, General Mills has agreed to take on a leadership role to push for strong climate policy changes with governments and within the industry.

Specifically, General Mills has pledged to:

“Know and show” by disclosing their emissions as well as their suppliers of sugar cane and palm oil.

Set emissions reductions targets by 2015 and put in place stronger safeguards against deforestation.

Advocate by taking a leadership role in addressing climate change with businesses and governments.

In the coming months we will continue to work with General Mills to make sure they reach their goals; you can follow their progress with us on our Climate Roadmap. These commitments will make a real difference in the lives of farmers around the world.

Soon more companies will have to act too. And we have our eye on just who is next: Kellogg.

Kellogg, one of General Mills’ main competitors, has not yet stepped up their game. They need a wake-up call.

Give Kellogg's a wake up call!

Now, it's time for Kellogg's to step up and make similar commitments to help stop climate change from making people hungry. Will you pick up the phone and call Kellogg's today?

Kellogg Customer Care Repuclic of Ireland: 1800 626 066

Kellogg Customer Care UK: 0800 626 066

If Behind the Brands supporters from around the world make these calls, Kellogg will really feel the pressure. It's quick and easy to make this call - and so important. Everything you'll need is here: the phone number, a script to guide your conversation, and other tips and tricks. Please call today!

With 25 million more children at risk of going hungry by 2050, Kellogg has to take responsibility and cut their emissions. If General Mills can do it, they can too.

It's quick and easy to make this call – and so important. Everything you'll need is here: the phone number, a script to guide your conversation, and other tips and tricks.